A recent visit to Las Vegas demonstrated the wisdom and far-sightedness of the Nevada city's leaders compared to the "thinkers" of Columbus regarding NHL hockey and casinos.

Two decades ago, Columbus landed an NHL expansion team, the Blue Jackets. The team was housed downtown in Nationwide Arena.

It was Columbus' first "big four" major league sports franchise. Fans hoped the Jackets would be competitive from the start, make the playoffs and eventually win the Stanley Cup.

What ensued was an epic fail. The Jackets have made the playoffs only three times and have never gotten beyond the first round.

Industrialist John H. McConnell plunked down an $80 million franchise fee and the team began play in 2000. After he died, his son John P. McConnell took over. Nationwide Insurance now owns 30 percent of the club.

It is well-known that for professional teams in medium-sized metropolitan areas to compete for championships, the owners must be wealthy enough to subsidize the team to the tune of millions a year. This does not appear to be happening in Columbus.

As Trump continues to attack the Mueller investigation's criminal findings into his coterie of grifters, we're seeing the outline for what is the ultimate authoritarian presidency. Issuing a legal memo to Mueller, then leaking it and falsely claiming that leak came from Mueller's office allows Trump to get his ideas out ahead of a subpoena while also claiming the Mueller investigation is a rogue operation.

According to his lawyers, Trump not only can order any investigation to end or be initiated at his whim, he is incapable of being charged with a crime, can pardon himself anyway. And if that wasn't' enough, his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, says he can actually shoot the FBI Director dead if he so desires. That it's legal, technically, but that he'd be impeached the next day.

The saying “ignorance is bliss” means that it is better to not know about a thing, situation or event. It means it's better for someone to not know what a person really thinks about you or your circumstances. Some people feel that it’s better to be unaware, and thus ignorant of unpleasant situations that cause them stress or would in some way hold them accountable for what they have now become aware of in their safe, blissful world. If we don’t know about a thing, we can’t help, support or change a thing. If we don’t know about it, we can’t care about it. 

Currently there is a “Me Too” campaign going on across the nation. It seems that now is the time for people, especially women, who have been sexually harassed to have their voices heard. If women have been raped in the past they are now speaking out about it in the present. Men are going to jail, they are being fired from their jobs, they are being made to step down from high political offices, a few women have also been accused of sexual harassment. Now is the time for people to speak out and demand justice for the sexual crimes committed against them. 

Every spring, as the calendar ticks off the two month span between April 4th (the assassination anniversary date of anti-war, anti-racist, anti-poverty activist Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr) and June 5th (the assassination anniversary date of anti-war  and pro-racial equality presidential candidate Senator Robert F. Kennedy), many progressive, anti-war, anti-racism, non-violent activists around the world such as myself have spent a lot of time thinking about how different America and the world might have been if the political, military and economic powers that were behind the Vietnam War and in charge of those two assassinations had decided instead to allow the will of the people – rather than the use of cowardly firearms – to decide America’s future.

<<<1968, the Year When Everything Happened>>>

1968 is sometimes referred to as the “year when everything happened”.

Whit’s Frozen Custard in Clintonville just entered the vegan non-dairy frozen dessert market this spring to the excitement across Columbus of vegans and those who are allergic, lactose intolerant or otherwise need to avoid dairy products. At this time, the Clintonville Whit’s offers one option: coconut-based vanilla. (Note: not all Whit’s locations are on board yet, so call ahead, verify, and ask them to carry it at their location near you if they don’t already have it.)

Whit’s also carries flax milk for those who enjoy shakes. The cool thing about Whit’s is that you can make their frozen dessert into whatever wondrous variety your taste buds are inspired to create. They have a fantastic assortment of fruits and berries as well as staples like peanut butter and Oreo-style cookies that are vegan.